reaction. two blasts at a flooded chemical plant just 25 miles northeast of downtown houston sending a plume of smoke into the air and sheriff deputies to the hospital causing concern for those nearby as that fire continues to burn. yeah, so the bottom line is that we do what is called plume modeling and that's what we base a lot of the evacuations on and so by all means, yes, the plume is incredibly dangerous. >> we believe at this point that the safest thing to do is to allow the other eight containers, product in those to degrade and burn. surveying the storm. vice president mike pence touches down in texas, moments ago. he'll see the damage and meet with hurricane harvey victims as houston residents start the very long process of picking up the pieces. >> just don't think it could happen to you and it is just weird. we didn't even think to move our cars. >> it is all gone.

i don't think we have a piece of furniture in this house that is not damaged. and war games. a show of force on the korean peninsula with the u.s. buzzing the north with supersonic bombers in a joint operation with south korea that is designed to send a message to kim jong-un as tensions rise in the region. >> the point of this drill is for u.s. and south korea marines to train together, to see each other's skills in case they need to fight north korea together, training that has a renewed urgency now. good day. i'm casey hunt in for andrea mitchell, following the breaking news on tropical depression harvey from multiple fronts. first, those ongoing concerns surrounding the arkema chemical plant near houston. officials say excess pressure inside the chemical containers at the plant caused ruptures that led to overnight fires. 15 local deputies were treated and then released at a local hospital for smoke inhalation.

the key concern right now is the temperature of the chemicals inside the plant, the lack of refrigeration could cause more blasts and fires at that facility. right now, there are at least 28 storm related deaths. a number that is expected to rise. more than 200,000 power outages and 25,000 rescues of victims trapped in flooded communities. but harvey isn't finished. the storm is moving through parts of louisiana, mississippi, and alabama, heading toward tennessee, where there could be another round of flash flood warnings. let's get to our team in texas for the very latest right now. maya rodriguez near the chemical plant and msnbc's garrett haak is in houston. maya, i want to start with you, we heard from officials this morning there and we're now hearing there a roadway has been closed near the plant, what is the latest there? >> reporter: right, so we're near highway 2100, texas highway

2100 and highway 90. you see behind me, the on ramp to 90 is shut down. they're not letting people go in, go past this area, this is part of the one and a half mile evacuation zone that has been set up around the arkema plant here. you were talking about some of the ruptures that happened. what is inside the plant is organic oxides. their main power supply went off line during hurricane harvey. they have two backups. those backups also failed because of the flooding from hurricane harvey. those backup powers were cooling off the organic peroxides and they need to stay cool, or they become volatile and they basically catch fire. that's what happened last night. they started to heat up, there were two ruptures, a call came into the harris county office of emergency management around 2:00 a.m. saying, hey, there is black smoke coming out of this plant, they responded, you heard about

the 15 deputies that were treated for that smoke inhalation, we're told they're fine. they were released from the hospital. but, again, the concern is there are at least eight more containers in this plant with those organic peroxides that could possibly heat up. it is very hot today here in houston. and possibly catch fire and rupture. they're not using the term explosion, they're being very careful about that. they're calling these ruptures of those containers that have those particular compounds. these compounds are used in things like pharmaceuticals and construction materials. but the problem is this is considered an ongoing situation, because at this point, they just don't know what is going to happen with those other containers. if they do rupture, at this point, what officials are saying is if they catch fire, the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out. casey? >> maya rodriguez, thank you. we'll stay in touch with any developments there. i want to go now to garrett haak. you are still in houston, where you have been the past couple of

days. where are they on the road to recovery here? we still seeing that flooding or are the waters receding at this point? >> well, casey, that's sort of depends almost entirely on where you stand. i'm in the cinco ranch area, across the county line in ft. bend county. this area was evacuated a couple of days ago, they made it a mandatory evacuation overnight to try to get people out. but the word was that the reservoir had topped out overnight, and the county judge said they weren't going to come in and pry people out of their homes. a lot of folks have been coming in today to look around. tell me about what you're seeing back here, closer to the bayou. >> the water is definitely -- i would say anywhere 3 to 4 feet in some of the houses. some of the folks that have gone in said they have 3 or 4 inches. so it varies depending how close they are to it. but a lot of devastation. >> do you get the sense it is coming down at all from the

height, i guess, probably yesterday, right? >> yeah. i started running yesterday and i would say probably six to eight inches it has come down already in just going along and seeing on the walls in the garage and stuff. it is starting to work its way down. >> what is it like coming back to this, this morning? >> well, for myself, i'm out of austin, so -- >> you came down here to help? >> came down here to help. but it is just -- seeing some of the folks go in, and it is one thing to see the water all over the place, but when they go inside the house and see as deep as it is, you can see the reaction and it is tough. >> can i bring you in here for a second? coming back to your house, what is it like, first of all what is it like to come back to your place? what is it like to have help like this from people across the state essentially coming down here to help out in. >> i think the help has been

amazing. i had to be evacuated by boat. i live just down there in the water came up so fast between saturday and sunday. so you leave with nothing. small duvall bag and get your dog out and your wife and get safe and so we found high ground, some friends of ours, we're good there. but you're living on two pairs of shorts and t-shirt. so found shawn here, wanted to take a few people back in, not going in to get tvs and stuff, going in to get something to get by for the next week. seeing the house is hard. i've lived here for 17 years. and just walk in and things are floating and you know it is ruined. you figure, i don't know, is it weeks or a month before you get back in to fix things. it is hard, but you start rebuilding, you put that behind you and now we're working on what do you do today and tomorrow and get on with your life. >> i think we'll leave it there. i appreciate you stopping to talk. hang on one second here. we'll throw it back to casey. that's the sense of it here in the cinco ranch neighborhood. folks are frustrated, trying to

get back and forth to their homes. they're coming back. this is their home and they're not going anywhere. >> some real inspiration and resilience on display there. thank you so much. i want to go now to nbc's blake mccoy, in port arthur, where they are in a very different phase here. we were just watching some pictures of live rescues of people in port arthur as they try to get out of the way of those rising waters. blake, what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah, still in a rescue phase here in port arthur. the water has started to go down a bit, look just how much water is still on the ground in this community. and a lot of people are still trapped in their homes. they don't know how many people, they're asking people to hang white flags or white towels from their windows so they can find them. i believe we have video of that rescue that you just showed, 15 minutes ago, that was a military helicopter flying over an apartment complex, airlifting people out of the apartment complex, about half a dozen people by our count that needed help there. we also have seen the coast guard on the ground here in port

arthur, they brought boats in to help navigate these streets because look at that, it is knee high on that guy, it gets deeper as you go down. look at streets here, the communities. people had to evacuate so quickly, looks like this person left their pet in a cage here, a dog, he looks to be doing okay, though. has food and water. and all of the streets are like this in port arthur as you walk around. homes are still under water. and it is going to be some time before all of this water goes down. i spoke with a long time resident here who has been through hurricane rita, hurricane ike, he says they're used to hurricanes here. this was just so different because of the amount of water dumped in a short amount of time, about two feet in 24 hours here in port arthur. they had never seen anything like it. the evacuation shelter, they had set up, had to be evacuated. they had to move people to a new evacuation shelter because the shelter they thought was safe ended up taking on water. that shows you how much this storm caught people off guard in

this community. no one expected the kind of rain that they got here. >> blake, can i ask you, as we were trying to get a sense over the last few days of what had happened in houston and they -- we thought that the flooding was maybe subsiding, got sunny, but released reservoirs, the water kept rising in unexpected places. i see there is blue sky over your head. what is the lay of the land in port arthur from that perspective? do we expect there to be more rising floodwaters there? or is there a sense that the worst is over and they still have to get through this rescue phase? >> we have been watching the water go down incrementally here over the last hour since we have been here. the problem is north of us, north of beaumont, there are some dams. if they start releasing water from the dams because they get too full, which they are expecting to have to do, some of the communities could face more rising waters once again. so just because the water started to go down doesn't mean they're out of the woods. the water could end up going

back up again before this is all over if they have to do dam releases. >> and, blake, we also have seen -- we're just talking with garrett haak there about some volunteers that had driven down from austin, texas, with boats, to help get neighbors out. i'm wondering have you spoken to folks outside of the area of port arthur or is this still the kind of situation where a lot has been cut off, you've seen -- you showed that military helicopter and volunteer civilians haven't been able to mobilize in the same way. >> civilians have been here. they call is the cajun navy. we were in a city called orange, texas, about 15, 20 miles from here by boat, which is how they were getting here. and the amount of volunteers that we saw was truly astounding. many of them coming from louisiana, which is just over the border from where we are. they feel like they dodged a bullet in louisiana and people we were talking to said it was their obligation to give back to the people of texas in this part of the community hit so hard. so a lot of people were bringing

out their private boats and, in fact, today, i saw two coast guard boats pull through this community, there were several volunteers following them to help as best they could. so they were following the coast guard to see where people needed help. volunteers are still here, they're here strong, one person told me he goes in a time like this, we all help each other, put aside our differences, he goes this is who we are as americans. >> in fact, i think we're watching some people here live as they try to evacuate their home in port arthur, texas. blake mccoy, thank you so much, stay safe out there. retired admiral thad alan, he conducted the response to hurricane katrina. thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. i wanted to start with pictures here of port arthur and we're seeing again these evacuations and i know you directed, of course, these -- this response

in the past. and we heard blake mccoy reference these white flags that they're putting out on their homes to signal that they need to be rescued. you said we were talking off camera about how this is one of the most important pieces of this response. >> it is. one of the problems is if you don't have a mandatory evacuation or you can't keep track of who was evacuated, you don't know who is still there, and who may need assistance. they may not have access to social media, cell phone or other means to let people know about that. ultimately you need accountability, new orleans we had to do house by house sweep. you remember the icons we put on with spray paint, we had been there and what we found. we won't know until we get in every house who is there and what needs to be done. >> talk a little bit about -- we saw in -- again, we're looking live at people who are evacuating their home right now in port arthur, texas. we saw earlier military chopper coming down, what does it take -- you were the commandant

of the coast guard with coordination with the navy. how did the operations play out? clearly this is a scene we have seen play out in houston, for an entire week now. >> well, the secret to an effective response in my review is unity of effort. the state has the lead and everybody else to assist them. how do you bring all the people together? we did that in new orleans by establishing joint planning cells, navy brought in ships we could use for platforms, all that is happening right now, takes a lot of effort to pull that together. joint planning and coordination and creating unity of effort across lines, we don't necessarily have the legal authority to direct anybody is the answer. >> how long is this effort going to take? this is -- compare for me, you focused so much on hurricane katrina, this is a scale and scope i'm not sure we have ever seen in recent memory. how long is it going to be until

these communities are able to recover. >> you have a diaspora, people who have left and gone places, they have housing that they're in now, they own or they rent, ultimately all the people will have to come back to some kind of normal where they're going to be. so you have to have multiple lines of effort while focusing on saving lives. need to be looking at emergency sheltering, where people will go, and how many housing units have we lost, what we have to rebuild and we need to think about saving houses as well. >> blake mccoy referenced the cajun navy, this group of volunteers that have come in with their boats and it appears that what we're watching are some of those volunteers. how do you coordinate the official side, the coast guard, the navy, with people who kind of throw their hands up in the air and their resources? >> that is a bit of a challenge. you don't want to turn anybody away that has resource, compassion and commitment and want to help. the question is how do you do that? if you deal with everybody individually, it is hard to tell them where to go what to do, and

coordinate what they found and have them report back. you want a command and control structure over that. sometimes you have to do that locally on ad hoc basis, but the more you get the people together, as a group, direct them where they need to go to the highest safety of life targets you want them to, that's what you want to have happen. >> so as we move into the next phase of this, it seems like up with of the great challenges, so many people living in shelters, what happens next for them? how do their lives progress? how do you transition into long-term planning? >> well, i've talked to senior administration leaders and that is the real challenge. it gets very, very complicated. you get people into shelters, they're going to have to be in shelters for a while, two to three weeks before there is an intermediate housing solution. katrina was trailers and hotels. we have to get people back to nearly where they were at before in terms of housing. that's extraordinarily complex. hud has to get into the play. i know they're already coordinating meetings, but this

will require a tremendous effort and people need to understand it is not going to happen immediately because of the demand for housing is that wrought. >> how would you grade the federal response on a whole so far for this? >> i think the level of coordination and the amount of effort being put into this is basically extraordinary. the problem is the challenge is extraordinary. compared to katrina, the geographical scope is so wide, there were three landfalls, the amount of different jurisdictions that are evolved make this really, really complex and will challenge everybody that is involved. they need to keep their wits about them, cooperate and subordinate the interests and work to the good of the people out there. >> i want to go to kerry sanders in beaumont, texas, another place where they're still battling these rescues and floodwaters. i understand you're outside of a hospital that they're evacuating because they have lost access to clean water. what are you seeing? >> we are at baptist hospital and you can see right here, the

ambulances are lined up and we have several stretchers that are out. the hospital last night was fully operational until around midnight. 193 patients here and then they lost water from the city because the city's pumps went out. so they're not producing clean water and so at that point, the hospital waited to see whether they were going to get water back. when it turned out they were not going to get city water back, without clean water, they cannot run a hospital. everything is backed up here, the toilets and everything else. they are doing what is a triage right now, they start with the most critically -- critical patients and work down to those in the less critical condition and those that are almost the walk-in type patients that are not in bad shape at all. we have already seen at least one helicopter with a critical patient fly out of here. as i stand here, and we see the crews getting ready to take some out in the ambulances here, the ones that will bring out are the 15 -- 15 people who are at a

nursing home. now, i happen to be at the airport here in beaumont when the coast guard, the national guard, and the customs and border protection brought in those nursing home victims who they had rescued from the rising waters. they brought them here because of their age, because they're infirmed and need special attention now. this is difficult for somebody who is older to have gone through all of this, some of them taken out on boats because it was too dangerous to put them up on the hoist. others hoisted into helicopters and they have gone through a lot of just disorientation and trauma to get here and now having to move again. we have another camera up here, i think you can see the picture as we see, some of the people that are coming out, and you see that picture of the chopper coming in, that chopper that is coming in is a -- i'm told, going to be a national guard helicopter and it is going to be a blackhawk helicopter and the goal with this helicopter coming in here is to take out the dialysis patients. there are several patients here

on dialysis, and they do need to get some attention at a place where they can be treated for their kidney failures or their kidney problems. so we're going to make sure and do our very best here on live television, we don't want to show pictures of patients' faces, they have been through a lot, but they're being brought out now, as i see, the national guard helicopter circling. now, there is a landing pad here that they use just a short time ago for the baptist helicopter to transfer that one patient. but because the blackhawk helicopter is such a larger imprint and takes such a larger footprint, i believe that they're going to come into another spot, at least we were told they would come to another spot in a grassy area. when i'm watching them come in now, a different angle of this, it almost appears that they're coming in on the landing pad. we'll wait to see here. those kidney dialysis patients now are inside the hospital here. and they're going to be wheeled

out and taken to one of the other hospitals. it is important for family members with relatives in the area who have a loved one who is in the hospital here to understand that they're going to be taken to various different hospitals. so it is not as if all 193 patients here are going to go to one particular hospital. that confusion can become very trying for a family member trying to track where somebody has gone. so that is something that the hospital will be keeping track of. they will try to let family members know they're trying to do this in the most orderly of a fashion as they can. we have another patient coming out. you can see in the wheelchair there, another one, and, again, these are some of the 15 who -- well, actually, they're going over to the helicopter. those are the people who are going to be -- let's walk over this way, those are the kidney dialysis patients that are going to be getting on here. let's see if we can catch up with mary. mary is the spokesman here at the hospital. mary poole, okay, mary is going to come over to us when we see a

second chopper coming in. do we know where these people on the dialysis that are getting on this particular helicopter are going to go? >> yes, these are blackhawk helicopters and they're taking dialysis patients to jasper, texas. >> have you been able to notify the family members for each of these patients or is that still in progress? >> yes, sir, they know where they're going? they don't need to be admitted. this is dialysis treatment. >> without dialysis, what happens? >> life threatening. >> okay. so let's turn around and you can see up here, a second helicopter coming in, that second helicopter is going to land either in this area or circle while they have taken this first group over here. we're going to walk a little bit more this direction, towards where the helicopter is, understanding it might get a little noisier. you can see the pictures of the different patients here. dialysis patient this he can probl -- they can probably get out of the wheel chairs and walk.

without dialysis, their kidney functions can become very compromised. they have a problem there. absent kidney dialysis, they could go into what is a more serious condition. so, yes, we have the second helicopter landing in right now. i believe these are all from the texas national guard. they have the red cross here. just remember this is an extremely traumatic situation for people who have been going through so much movement, so much disruption in their lives, and now they're going through yet one more shift, they'll be going to jasper, texas, their family members are here, and in many cases the cars for the family members here have been washed away by the water. they don't start. they're still growing areas where the water is rising. it is not as if the family members can get in their cars and necessarily shoot right over to jasper. the only thing they will know is that they are being treated and they're being cared for and that hopefully everybody is going to be followed through with so that there are no additional

problems. but there we go, patient after patient after patient making their way over there. i think you can see without us showing too much here the faces of those, their hands in their face, how difficult it is for them to go through this. i noticed that we have some of the nurses who are with the patients sort of trying to explain to them, even though they explained to them several times what they're going to go through, we have an emt making his way over here. and there we go. air national guard making their way. this is a very coordinated process, but it takes a long time. you don't just run up to a helicopter, you have to take your time, each patient needs to be placed with a helicopter, then properly secured. and then the communications on board for the patients will be almost none, just hand signals because won't have headsets for every person on board to talk to. but each of these folks in the back of the helicopter is trained. you see that red cross, they may

be medics, but bottom line, they're trained emts. i'm not sure if we'll see anybody from the hospital get on, but we do know that each of them will have the proper care. i haven't determined how long the flight is to jasper. these blackhawk helicopters can move along at a very quick pace. so we're going to see if we can find out what the timetable is on the flight. i see somebody here walking. let me see if i can talk to him as we're coming along here. come on up. how long is the flight going to take for these guys? >> i don't know. >> you're not sure. >> it is a short flight. >> quick flight. okay. great. so they say it will be a pretty quick flight for them. which is important because of the -- the whole disruption to their lives. got to tell you, if you've never been on a helicopter, and it is in a situation like this, it is not a fun ride. it is a very disturbing experience for people. the room in the back there is

actually quite large, but we can shoot here, i think we can show the backs of people getting on, there you go, there is first patient getting on to the helicopter right now. so there you see, a nurse from the hospital, one of the members of the national guard, who is helping her get on, they have the seats on board, so they will strap them in the seats, it is a three-point seat belt they use. it goes over the shoulders and across the lap. so that's a very uncomfortable, but necessary position that they have to put them in. and here we go. patient after patient and look at the care and attention that they're getting with the people who are bringing them out. there is no shortage of people here who want to help them evacuate the very first national guard evacuation from the baptist hospital of the dialysis patients. and this is not going to be an easy process for them.

this is all going as planned. it looks like they -- let's see, i think they'll pick up this wheelchair and carry the wheelchair out there. this patient is not mobile enough to do it any other way. we're going to see here in a moment. the national guard medic who is the flight ops in the back is trying to tell them what they're going to do. you can hear because of the noise out here, she's not only talking, but she's showing with hand signals things that they need. she's giving a thumbs up now. so we're waiting to see now if -- we see from the other helicopter now, there are people being loaded on to the next helicopter at the same time. i'm torn between wanting to talk to somebody and letting them do their jobs here so i'll stand back, i don't want to interrupt. all right. let's see if i can talk to some people that are back here. how are they doing? they know what's happening, right? >> yes, sir. >> they expressed any concern or

are they worried? >> no, sir. we have explained everything. >> this is a traumatic experience for them getting on a helicopter. when you're working with the patients, tell me for you, how do you calm them down? >> one second, sir. one second. i'm so sorry. >> okay. she's getting a call. she has to step away. the paper work now, interestingly, this nurse here or doctor, the paper work stuffed in her shirt, knowing it would be very windy. here we go. here is a dialysis patient, making their way out to the helicopter, being loaded on board, and you may have noticed that he's missing -- i saw his left leg, i'm not sure about his right leg. but this is a painful experience. but one i hope that he also recognizes is one giving him recognition of the services that are being provided to get him out of here safely. just really struck by the number of heroes standing here,

spending the time, taking the time. this is not a evacuation where time is necessarily of the greatest essence because they know they're going to get him out. and they know they have done some dialysis here before getting him on board. we're stepping back a little bit from the helicopter at the request of the national guard. as we look at the other camera here, the national guard is taking out a stretcher. they're going to take the stretcher apparently for a different patient because of the space on board and may just be easier to put the patient on a stretcher. a lot of this stuff is being put together as we're watching it unfold. okay. here comes a -- asking him to come back. okay. this is important. as you saw them approaching the helicopter, the national guardsmen pointed them back. there say spinning rotor on the back of the helicopter that could kill somebody. you never approach a helicopter from the back. what they're trying to do here is move them on one by one in an orderly fashion and there are

some people who clearly are medically trained but not necessarily trained in how you handle an approach to a helicopter. okay. so now they're going to remove this wheelchair, and they're going to bring the next patient on board on this chopper. i'm trying to see how many patients we have left out here. i count one, two, three. i think three more patients. mary, how is it going right now. >> great. we have patients going out. all of our dialysis patients are going out now. >> this is a traumatic situation for the parents. how did you prepare them before they got on to understand what was going to happen? >> i think they understand they have to go somewhere to get care, we can't provide it here right now. i think they're grateful to have been here such a short time and this has happened so quickly. >> for people just joining us, where are they going? >> they're going to jasper, texas. >> jasper, texas, for people who need to get from here to there to their family members,

understanding that roads are blocked, water is up, should they go directly to jasper, texas, and which hospital? >> i cannot answer anything about the road conditions. we have been here since sunday. but we will have an 800 number that will be posted and they can check on their patients that way. >> thank you very much. that's mary poole here. we're going to step back because when the helicopters take off, it is really going to blow up. i'm with you here, guys. >> kerry, we're going to hang with you and keep the pictures from your camera up live on our screen while we talk on the phone to texas army national guard commander for the hurricane harvey recovery efforts, brigadier general patrick hamilton. general, thank you so much for taking the time out of what is obviously a very busy and important day for you. i think we were just watching some of the very fine folks under your command rescuing some of the patients from the hospital that has lost water. talk to us about that operation

and what else you're working on today. >> this has been a very dynamic situation. we moved over 1200 personnel and 500 vehicles into the beaumont area last night as well as about 60 helicopters that we have conducting ongoing operations throughout houston and beaumont. our priority is search and rescue. and then evacuation onward from there. we continue to work with the local authorities to provide as much support as they can stand. we positioned as much equipment as will not block up all the routes going in. i have pulled in quite a number of active duty units into the area, we're flowing in trucks from ft. hood. and we have marines and army reservists and air force. and it has been a tremendous coordinated effort right now. >> general, talk to me a little

bit about the situation in beaumont, specifically, the police are saying that the city is essentially on an island. what does that mean? how does that change your rescue efforts here? >> most importantly the concerns us the most with all the first responders in the texas division, emergency management, is the water situation. we're getting a status on whether the generators can come back up at the pumping stations and restore water. in preparation for that, we're moving tremendous logistics assets to be able to provide water as we rescue people and as the water starts -- the floodwaters start going down, that we can provide points of distribution for those who stayed in there once we cleared all the evacuees. that's going to be a very large logistics effort. right now, the single focus is on rescuing people. and there are just an amazing

amount of assets there from all service components, national gua guard, active duty, boat crews, helicopters, high water trucks, all converged in and are working rescues in beaumont right now. >> are there any other -- we're looking at this one hospital where the situation has become particularly dire. do you have any other areas of concern, places you're watching right now, plays we should be looking for intense missions like this one? >> the beaumont, port arthur area, is our main effort for search and rescue now. i have with some of river flooding, i moved some resources down on to the brazos river as it is beginning flood stage down there and we're prepared to do search and rescue there. but that right now that's the main effort. houston is an ongoing effort as well. as we continue to clear areas in houston, we're not knocking on

doors, supporting the local officials there, and we clear it out and begin to transition to points of distribution providing food and water. >> general, we were talking earlier about the challenges of rescuing people who can't communicate at this stage as you continue those search and rescue efforts. if there are citizens who are listening or are able to watch but don't have access to social media or another tool, what should they try to do to communicate to your effort that they need help? >> right, absolutely. and the local officials are putting this word out as well. hang a towel outside your door. some visual symbol like a white towel or something like that, hanging outside, so that air crews can see them and ground rescue crews can see them as well, and that way they can stay inside, stay sheltered and if we see the white towel, they'll knock on your door and tell you there is relief and rescue is

there. it will be boats, helicopters or high water vehicles. >> brigadier general patrick hamilton, thank you so much for taking the time with us today. i know it is a very busy and important effort. godspeed to you and all of those working with you. i want to bring back into the conversation, thad allen of the coast guard. you've been in charge of similar rescue efforts. just talk to me about if you are the brigadier general, trying to figure out how to do this, what is your central challenge as we watch the pictures unfold? >> it is bringing all the resources together and putting them in the highest priority need. one big change we made after hurricane katrina was empowering the national guard and active duty military to work under a single commander and that's helping the coordination, but what you want to do is provide logistics, security, communication, for local law enforcement officers, first responders to go house to house and make sure that somebody needs help, you can help them out. >> i want to go back to kerry

sanders who is still on the ground with us in beaumont, texas, as the helicopters take off. >> you can see the blackhawk helicopter, the second one is taking off. the patients are being flown to jasper, texas. that's the texas air national guard who have done some amazing work here. also, you have the staff here at baptist hospital. now that we have some of the noise down, let's remind people why they started the evacuation in a very orderly fashion here at the hospital. as you can see, it is high and dry here, and so is the general area. it is because of a lack of fresh water and i think we have a doctor over here, droctor, come here for a second. i'm kerry sanders from nbc news. explain to people, the hospital lost its fresh water supply from the city. you have 193 patients. what is it about the lack of fresh water that makes this so important to move them elsewhere? >> well, first and foremost the patients cannot be taken care of because of no water.

toilet facilities will not work. no fresh water for them for drink or drips. >> we had -- these were dialysis patients. i understand they had their dialysis process before they came here, is there a race to get them to jasper or are they okay? >> there is a race to get them out for the situation gets worse. the city just had a news conference today about less than an hour ago, it is not going to get any better the next week or so. it is patients need to be on life saving dialysis. and the earlier we get them out, the better. >> there are 193 patients, the triage is working for the most critical care on down. family members are concerned because when you have somebody who is in the hospital, whether it seems like it is minor or critical, they're worried about movement. as a doctor, what worries you about moving a patient from one location to another even if you have the texas air national guard doing the hero work? >> for the most critical

patients they can be moved if you take the right precautions. even in cases of disasters we have most patients, usually we have air ambulances and we transfer critical ill patients all the time. >> 193, i see ambulances coming up, i see helicopters coming and going, i know it is coordinated. but a family member would wonder to themselves, is the most attention being paid to my -- >> absolutely. absolutely. the sickest ones will go first and then go down there to those who are not as sick. ones who are not as sick will probably go by road or ambulance as we go on with the process. as of now, the most -- the critically ill patients have to be transferred first. >> i hear your phone ringing. they probably want you inside. i understand you have patients to tend to. thank you very much.

we are going to walk over here because you can see another helicopter landed. this is one of the helicopters from the hospital. it has brought in some supplies and maybe used to move a patient out as well. but at this point, you have seen the beginning of the evacuation of the baptist hospital here in beaumont. back to you. >> kerry, thanks. we will keep an eye on what you are looking at there in beaumont, texas. we just did show you some pictures of mike pence, the vice president, landing in texas with his wife karen pence, being greeting local officials there in corpus christi. that, of course, an area a little further away from where the worst damage is done. of course, public officials often decide that they're going to visit an area that is less hard hit so that they don't steal resources from the ongoing search and rescue efforts, which, of course, particularly in beaumont, texas, are at a severe stage. that's where we find nbc's stephanie gosk who is at a

military staging area in beaumont, texas. stephanie, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: hey, casey. we're eight miles outside of the center of town, enjoying a little sun for the first time in about a week it feels like, or a lifetime for a lot of these people. i'm joined by some members of the texas national guard, i have lieutenant colonel mike perez and major johnny guerrero. tell me about the worst night here what it looked like, what you saw. >> couple of nights ago, heavy rains, heavy storms here, high wind and rain in the parking lot. it was probably the second or third time the storm came ashore. everybody here was safe. we just stayed indoors, just waiting for the waters to recede so we could send the forces out on missions. >> what is the texas national guard doing right now in beaumont? >> in beaumont, our job here at this center is really a mission and command, command and control, the forces, the national guard is sending us so we can push them forward, port

arthur, orange, wherever the incident commanders could be, the police chiefs, fire chiefs, whoever is in control on the ground, needs our help. we work for the civilian agencies and we respond to their needs. >> and what is the focus of the effort today? >> evacuations. searches with both military and civilian and local law enforcement, primarily down in port arthur at this time and whatever they particularly need at that time, evacuate the civilians after finding, getting medical assistance they might need. >> major guerrero, you were telling me you were proud of the young men and women that are with you. tell me about their response to being here. you're normally overseas, iraq, afghanistan, tell me about their response. >> absolutely proud of the enthusiasm, young men and women showed, jumping into harm's way. the other day storming, it was raining, high winds, and we got a mother and a baby trapped on the highway 105. we need to get them out there

asap. they jumped in vehicles, went out there and completed the mission. good feeling to know that we're making a difference to help the citizens of the great state of texas. >> lieutenant colonel, you are from texas, you live in this state. people around the country, their hearts go out to people here, what is it like to be a native texan to be here and see what you're seeing? >> again, same thing, just proud. love wearing the uniform, love serving texas, my country. families up north are safe. my sister is in houston. she's safe. we're here to help the ones that are not. and we have a combination of army, navy, we have got the marines, special forces, everybody has come together to do this mission, that's just down here in this particular area. proud to be a part of it, very much so. >> both of you have served in war zones, multiple times, you know difficult conditions, but can you give our viewers a sense of what it is like here in beaumont, the conditions, what you're up against? >> the conditions for us, personally, not been as bad as the conditions for the personnel

in houston, they were the hardest hit. a lot of the incidents here i guess, just the flooding, has been the primary concern, there is areas that are just not passable and the forces that are coming in, the marines bringing a lot of boats and amphibious assets that we can use to get to them. but overall, i mean, here it is just the weather, the flooding and the rain and the winds. >> all right, thank you, both, gentlemen, very much. i'm sure there are a lot of people happy to see you here on the ground in beaumont. you know, casey, not just the texas national guard. you have the marines who are here with their amphibious vehicles, lots of different agencies contributing. an enormous effort to coordinate all of these groups and to get help to people as quickly as they need it. casey? >> steph, thank you so much for that. we'll keep an eye on what is happening with you down in beaumont, texas. also, in texas, four megashelters currently operating across the state, three in houston, and one in dallas. so far at least 32,000 texans

have been housed in emergency shelters. this morning, femme fema says than 8,000 families have been located to hotels in the area. joining me is the ceo of the american red cross of texas gulf coast, dave brady. he's at the george r. brown convention center in houston, one of those major shelters. david, give us just a sense of where things are there. how people are feeling and how big your operation is on the ground. >> well, our operation here at george r. brown is a partnership with the city of houston and mayor turner and his team. this operation, i feel, is a great place right now. i've walked around the center today. been able to talk some of the people staying here and moods are good. spirits are up. people are feeling much, much better. i think yesterday the past 24, 36 hours have come as a great relief as the sun is shining here. we're all very concerned and worried about our neighbors to

the east of us in the beaumont, orange area. but here in houston, george r. brown and other shelters around this region here, houston, they're feeling much better and anxious, starting to talk about getting ready to move on and take a step forward in their lives. >> you say get ready to move on and take a step forward. walk me through what the path looks like for a family that has lost their home, found their way to the shelter, what is the next step for them, what is the third step, the fourth step, what are they looking at? >> for the red cross, our goal and our job is to get into disasters while they're going on. we had mobilized from our national headquarters and ceo gail mcgovern got us the resources we needed in houston ne immediately last week. we were getting shelters ready. we had the challenge unfortunately of not being able to get to shelters because of how inaccessible the roads were. once we get people to shelters,

we give them the place to be comfortable, get them fed, try to make them feel as close to home as they can, even though it is not home. and then start to work on that process and we'll get them into shelters once the megashelters close, we'll start working on the next step and start working with our partner agencies. we have amazing partners in the houston area. united way agencies like baker ripley, we work with catholic charities, salvation armies, so many great organizations, we work with to find the long-term solutions for the folks, work with our partners at the city of houston, mayor turner, harris county judge, we'll find long-term solutions for everybody. one thing about texans, we protect our own. we look out for our own. nobody is going to be left behind on this one. >> still so many americans across the country that do want to help those of you down in texas. what do you need the most right now from people who are looking to give something, anything to help everyone get back on their feet? >> it is interesting. everybody wants to give -- i'm

hearing from so many people, they want to put something together and bring it. it is challenging to bring large quantities of individual items from individuals to the facilities. although i know everybody wants to give. we're looking for donations to the red cross or to other local nonprofits you want to support, but at red cross.org, you can donate, you can volunteer, and you can find out where our shelters are. we encourage everyone to look for the ways to contribute. we live in a society, a culture that wants to give back, they feel a need to give back. we want to volunteer and support our efforts. >> david brady, the ceo of the american red cross of the texas gulf coast. thank you so much for taking some time to be with us. i'll let you get back to your very important work. >> thanks, casey. i appreciate it. and coming up, vice president mike pence has landed in storm ravaged texas where he'll visit with victims of hurricane harvey. we'll pri ybring you the latest his visit. the spirit of evacuees were lifted by this performance at

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president trump expected to head back to the gulf coast on saturday. joining me, msnbc political analyst elise jordan, former aide in the george w. bush administration and jennifer palmieri, former communications director to president obama. and we have retired thad allen from the coast guard with us. for all of you, jen, i want to talk with you about mike pence and his visit here. the meeting with victims. this is a different tact than the president took when he visited the region monday. is he just trying to make up for a mistake the president made in your view? >> i think that it was pretty telling that the white house staff themselves, not even the vice president and staff themselves said it is important for the vp to go down and talk specifically to victims, that's probably something that would have been better for the president to do. i imagine even if trump had done it, pence would be doing it today, too. the magnitude of the storm, i

worked in white houses when you had to deal with things like this, nothing the magnitude of houston, but they're going to be dealing with this for years, not just months but years. admiral allen can speak to that with his experience with the bp spill. it will impact a lot of issues like the daca decision, you may not want to do that while dreamers are under water in houston. i think the white house will find this is not going to be just a big issue to deal with the clean up but impact other political issues they have to deal with. >> certainly there's a sense it may impact how congress operates in the first month of september as they try to get aid to the victims. want to show you a little former texas governor, now energy secretary rick perry spoke to reporters on the plane on air force 2 coming down to corpus christi. he was asked a little bit about what it meant that the vice

president was the one stepping out in front of the administration's response to the disaster. take a look at his answer to those questions. >> the president went to the right place. he literally and figuratively waved the flag. the american citizens and texans know he cares. he is paying attention. >> elise jordan, what's your view of what this means, the context of vice president mike pence taking the mantle for the administration? >> i think this is also not in the very early hours of the tragedy. i think that it is much easier to advance and execute a high level dignitary visit, when there are a few more days of planning. the criticism of president trump initially not going immediately to the eye of the storm, it is pretty unfair. it is important to take a step back and think about the resources that are required for one of these visits and the

decision-making process that involved. >> admiral, i want to ask you about that actually, as somebody that had to coordinate these visits, deal with these dignitaries, what problems did it create for you? >> you want to pay attention, it is opportunity to explain to leadership what's going on, what your problems are. don't want to attract from people working the frontlines. you can sort out the resources required to do that. and keep the people working on problems that they need to do. people need to see their leaders up front. i never thought it was a problem when they came down. sometimes it was a matter of a few days in between. that's time well spent to acquaint them with what's going on on the ground. >> jennifer palmieri, how has this administration's reaction been different to a disaster then when you were working inside the white house with president obama and how he handled it. >> we did, our biggest challenge was sandy, just less than a week, a week ahead of the 2012

reelect. so it was particularly tricky one to handle. another one ended up being more devastating on the back end than when it first started. we found it was important for the president to put aside campaigning, spend a lot of time back in d.c. in that case to not be a distraction. new york, new jersey were very much not able to handle a presidential visit. but go when he could, but show that it is important that the country see not just people that are effected but the country see this is the biggest priority of the president. it was a week before his reelect. >> elise jordan, you worked for former president george w. bush who obviously struggled with responding to hurricane katrina, and leading the nation through that crisis. based on what you know of that, your experience in that administration, what would you

say to the trump administration going forward, the president set to go back to the region saturday. what should he be doing on that visit? >> i think president trump needs to this go around meet with victims, enough time has passed. this situation will be a little calmer, although it is still on-going. we have no idea the full extent of the tragedy. just show that he cares, showing empathy and inspiring people at this stage of a huge crisis that's heart wrenching and changing the lives and livelihoods of so many americans. >> admiral allen, quickly as we wrap up, what do you need over the long term from americans? this obviously, this devastation, we have been showing so much of it, the recovery effort will go on, cameras won't be there any more. what do americans need to remember, how long should they continue to pay attention to this? >> we run the risk of getting disaster fatigue.

it has only been a few days, people are already exhausted. you need to understand this is a long haul, everything needs to be done regarding housing, where people are at, getting back to work. getting local companies up to revenue basis for the cities, going to be a long haul, require focus and continued attention. best way to help, however, is support the salvation army and american red cross and put funds in their hands to make the decision on how best to use them. >> now we are watching another helicopter landing outside that hospital in beaumont, texas. that hospital of course cut off from water supplies. they're not as you can see flooded but the patients are not able to get care that they need, so they're being flown out, evacuated. national guard helicopters throughout the afternoon taking outpatients, some on dialysis, for example. want to thank all my guests who joined us. elise jordan, jennifer palmieri, admiral allen who spent the hour

here with us. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. craig melvin is up next on msnbc. >> thank you so much. good afternoon to you. craig melvin here. we continue breaking news coverage of harvey's impact at this hour as it continues to wreak havoc throughout east texas. it's also threatening louisiana and tennessee. this is the scene in beaumont, texas. as casey mentioned, no running water now, that caused one hospital in the city to shut down. they had to evacuate at least 200 patients so far. some of the patients by helicopter. you watched those images play out over the last hour or so. rising flood waters in beaumont, knocked out the main pumping station. that's why there's no running water there. kerry sanders is on duty in beaumont for us where lack of running water forced a hospital shutdown and evacu